CHALLENGE
The Indianapolis City market, founded in 1826, was a major cultural gathering space when it was first built, and still is today. It is listed in the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP), which is the United States federal government’s official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures, and objects deemed worthy of preservation and protection. However, over the years, it has been run down, and has lost the majority of it’s historic charm. A team consisting of myself and two others, focused on how we might better establish the City Market as a cultural and historical gathering space.
METHOD
In order to develop a solution, we needed to collect data from the City Market’s audience. We did this through observation of its patrons, facilitating a graffiti wall within the space, and conducted in-person surveys and interviews.
SOLUTION
My team and I thought the best opportunity space we had to embrace was the City Market Catacombs. The Catacombs qualify as both a ruin and a re-development opportunity for the city market. This space is highly under-used and would be a great opportunity to re-establish the market district as a community gathering space outside of the normal market hours. Indianapolis surprisingly has an very large art community, so we thought it would be a fantastic opportunity to create an art, food and drink venue that would appeal to this crowd. My team and I put together a proposal document and then presented it to the City Market panel which included Executive director Stevi Stoez.
